The third international colloquium on technology-enhanced French Studies, titled “Dialogues across languages and cultures”, will take place Oct. 27, 28 and 29. Fifty researchers, artists and teachers will gather at York’s Glendon and Keele campuses, and the University of Toronto’s St. George campus, to debate the ways new technologies change how scientific and artistic research views traditional communication practices. Every event in this conference will be broadcast via the Internet.
Dominique Scheffel-Dunand, professor in the French Department in York University’s Faculty of Arts; Professor Christiane Dumont, also of York’s French Department; and Glendon French Studies professor Aimé Avolonto worked with many other members of York’s faculty to plan and bring the colloquium to fruition.
The colloquium opens on Oct. 27, with a full day of events in the Robert McEwen Auditorium, W141 Seymour Schulich Bluilding, located on York’s Keele campus. Robert Drummond, dean of York’s Faculty of Arts; Professor Marilyn Lambert-Drache, associate dean, Faculty of Arts; Philippe Delacroix, consul general of France in Toronto; and Daniel Canale, cultural attaché, French Consultate in Toronto, will provide the colloquium’s opening remarks at 9am. The day will conclude with an evening of theatre by Théâtre français de Toronto (TfT), at the Berkeley Street Theatre, located at 26 Berkeley St., in Toronto. TfT will present a discussion and a performance of the play Visites à Monsieur Green – written by Jeff Baron and translated by Michel Tremblay. Participants in the evening’s discussion include several well-known Quebec actors, as well as Guy Mignault, the TfT’s artistic director.
On Oct. 28 colloquium participants will reconvene in the Robert McEwen Auditorium. Rosamund Woodhouse, academic director of the Centre for the Support of Teaching, and a professor in the School of Health Policy & Management at York’s Atkinson Faculty of Liberal & Professional Studies, will kick off another full day of events with a presentation on using technology to integrate research and teaching in Francophone Studies.
On Oct. 29 the sessions shift to the U of T’s St. George campus. The closing cultural event will take place at 8pm in Theatre Glendon, York Hall, located on the Glendon campus. The event includes an evening of electric poetry with Marc Lemyre and is co-sponsored by Glendon and the Alliance française de Toronto.
A series of unique cultural events at the Glendon campus will complement the colloquium’s academic program. On Oct. 24, as a prelude to the colloquium, there will be a screening of the film En attendant le bonheur – Waiting for Happiness, by Abderrahmane Sissako, at 6:30pm in room 204, York Hall, Glendon campus. (The film tells the story of a young boy who overcomes his exile in a new town by engaging in a dialogue with its townspeople whose language he does not speak.) On Oct. 25, an international contingent of writers and authors will gather at Glendon to speak about the 1994 genocide which took place in Rwanda. The event titled “Rwanda pour mémoire / Remembering Rwanda” will take place at 6:30pm in room 204, York Hall, Glendon campus. On Oct. 26 Glendon presents an evening of African storytelling in Theatre Glendon, York Hall, Glendon campus.
Click here for the full colloquium schedule. For further information on all events connected with this colloquium, e-mail Aimé Avolonto at aavolonto@gl.yorku.ca, Dominique Scheffel-Dunand at dsdunand@yorku.ca or Danielle Beausoleil at danielle@yorku.ca.
This article was submitted to YFile by Marika Kemeny, Glendon’s communications officer.